Monday, May 11, 2015

"When two [gay] people, not bound by blood or kin, love each other to such a profound depth that they want to make a lifelong commitment of faithfulness to each other, then that deserves to be acknowledged, celebrated and solemnised. We are all the better for it – individuals, families, communities and society are life-enhanced – and God in his heaven rejoices.” That’s from Fr. Adrian Egan, CSsR.

These two quotations are representative of the pure twaddle we read all too often today. One can hardly imagine such nonsense being spouted even a few years ago by a Catholic priest in Ireland or by a conservative Catholic politician in America.

Fr. Pilon goes on to say that he wants to focus, in this article, on Santorum's comment and its implications and "leave the comments of the Redemptorist priest to the proper Church authorities" (emphasis added). I wonder what he expects? Does anyone think he's holding his breath?

This is very sad but not really surprising if you have been paying attention to Santorum. In the past the "staunch pro-lifer" has publicly supported the assassinations of civilian citizens of a nation he's not at war with, cited his votes in favor of providing federal funds to Planned Parenthood as a defense against the charge that he was too pro-life, and claimed that American women have a right to abort (murder) their children and engage in the evil of contraceptive sex. All of that is in addition to being one of the biggest supporters of invading Iraq.

As Thomas Storck said recently, the identification of orthodox Catholicism with the GOP in the public mind has done immense harm.

It's easy to criticize Santorum. But it's also easy to see how impossible it is to function in the political sphere as a consistent Catholic given the seismic shifts of the past decade. I don't question his essential orthodoxy so much as his judgement in even attempting to mount a race. I think clerics or politicos who are attempting to win public approval are engaging in a losing game.